It felt like the gang was all there at the annual Super Preseason Bowl between West Haven and Ansonia.

Roll call: the Lonesome Polecat (aka Ned Griffen), 'Remmy' (of NVL Football blog fame), Kyle Brennan (of NVL Football Blog and Rep-Am fame), Kevin Duffy (for Hearst CT) and a smattering of coaches of fans, opposing players and former players.

We unnecessarily hyped the game up, and the casual media presence might have hinted this scrimmage was important somehow. But it was just a scrimmage and we used the occasion to size up what should be two of the best teams in the state this season, not to mention get some extra intel from sources who attended.

With the varsity playing a majority of the scrimmage, Ansonia "won" the (ahem) game four scores to two. But it was a pretty even exchange, with hard-hittin' defense a-plenty.

Arkeel Newsome scored a few touchdowns for Ansonia, including a 70-yard run. West Haven's Erv Phillips score on a 30-yard burst. Westies' QB Duane Gary showed some nifty running, as did Ansonia QB JaiQuan McKnight. But overall, it looked like the season was two weeks away.

Yea, there were no fancy schmancy spread offenses in this affair. It was a strap-it-up, dig-in, fire-out, good ol' fashioned smashed-mouth friendly at Jarvis Stadium.

Of course, here were some hints that a few in attendance and on the field might have considered this more than it really was, like this Tweet:

WH player: "We take this seriously! Scrimmage or not, I don't care!" as he fired-up the troops today. #cthsfb #football
— NVL FOOTBALL (@NVLFOOTBALL) August 31, 2013

Overall, there wasn't much to take from this except Newsome and Phillips are good. Ansonia and West Haven are big and are capable of digging in and banging in the trenches with the best of 'em.

In other words, these teams probably can play football.

But, you knew that, didn't you?

Thanks (once again) to YouTube's Rick Volk, you can take a gander at what the Super Preseason Bowl looked like Friday night.

Check it. Let us know what you think: